While home sales are down, experts believe there are signs of a turnaround.
A lot of negative aspects are contributing to the decreased home sales, including the recession, high unemployment rates and tighter credit, but there are some things working to improve the housing market. One in particular is the big tax credit.
“The $8,000 tax credit. It really has been a boom for the first time home buyer or anybody else who has not owned a home in the last three years.”
Bill Malkasian, President of the Wisconsin Realtors Association, says that $8,000 credit is limited to a certain group of people. He says the housing market would really thrive if that credit were expanded.
“There’s not a question that organized real estate and the building community argued that there should be no income limit, number one, we thought the credit should be higher, but Congress didn’t agree with us.”
Wisconsin home sales for the second quarter of this year fell 10.5% compared to the same period last year. Malkasian says sales fell 22.6% in the first quarter of this year. So, while the newest data is not great, it is certainly less bad.
Malkasian says in addition to the federal credit, low mortgage rates continue to help the market.
AUDIO: Jackie Johnson report (1:42 mp3)
